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Qualifying report

IndyCar Road America: O’Ward takes pole for Race 2

The 2018 Indy Lights champion Pato O’Ward earned the first pole position of his IndyCar career at Road America this morning when his fastest time in his Group edged the best effort of former Lights teammate Colton Herta who topped Group 1.

Pole sitter Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet

Pole sitter Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet

Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

The Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet driver’s margin over the Andretti Harding Steinbrenner-Honda driver was just 0.0279sec but that was enough to push last year’s polesitter Herta to the outside of the front row.

It is the first pole position for a Mexican IndyCar driver since Mario Dominguez started P1 in the Houston Champ Car race in 2006.

In fact, Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh’s Alex Palou, third place finisher in yesterday’s round, was closer to O’Ward – 0.0221sec – but being in the same group, he will start from the odd-numbered positions, and therefore third on the grid, alongside Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport.

The third row will consist of Graham Rahal’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda alongside the as-yet-unbeatable Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing who earned his third straight win yesterday.

The field ran in the same groups as yesterday, but this time with Group 2 going out first and tackling the track at its ‘greenest’.

In this group, Team Penske-Chevrolet drivers Will Power and Simon Pagenaud, as well as Arrow McLaren-SP Chevy’s Oliver Askew, all hurt their chances by speeding in pitlane, thereby incurring a drive-through penalty and consigning themselves to just one flying lap on the Firestone alternate tires. Power did well, therefore, to grab P4 in the session to edge his teammates, even if he did trail Herta, Hunter-Reay and Dixon, but he’s consigned to eighth, alongside Dixon’s Ganassi teammate Felix Rosenqvist.

Jack Harvey, who started his Meyer Shank Racing-Honda from the front row yesterday, will start from the fifth row on this occasion alongside semi-teammate Alexander Rossi.

With Penske finally dropping the ball in qualifying, yesterday’s polesitter Josef Newgarden will start only 14th, while Pagenaud is 22nd.

The race begins at 12.40pm ET.

GRID LINE-UP for Race 2

Cla Driver Team Time Gap Mph
1 Mexico Patricio O'Ward
Arrow McLaren SP 1'44.897 137.758
2 United States Colton Herta
Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport 1'44.925 0.027 137.721
3 Spain Alex Palou
Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh 1'44.919 0.022 137.729
4 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay
United States Andretti Autosport 1'45.153 0.256 137.422
5 United States Graham Rahal
United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'45.032 0.135 137.580
6 New Zealand Scott Dixon
United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.267 0.370 137.273
7 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist
United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.148 0.251 137.428
8 Australia Will Power
United States Team Penske 1'45.299 0.402 137.231
9 United Kingdom Jack Harvey
United States Meyer Shank Racing 1'45.509 0.612 136.958
10 United States Alexander Rossi
United States Andretti Autosport 1'45.372 0.475 137.137
11 United States Santino Ferrucci
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan 1'45.567 0.670 136.883
12 Japan Takuma Sato
United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'45.432 0.534 137.059
13 United States Charlie Kimball
United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'45.834 0.937 136.538
14 United States Josef Newgarden
United States Team Penske 1'45.460 0.563 137.022
15 Netherlands Rinus van Kalmthout
United States Ed Carpenter Racing 1'46.033 1.135 136.282
16 Sweden Marcus Ericsson
United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.785 0.888 136.601
17 United States Zach Veach
United States Andretti Autosport 1'46.181 1.284 136.091
18 United States Oliver Askew
Arrow McLaren SP 1'46.073 1.176 136.230
19 United States Marco Andretti
Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani 1'46.221 1.324 136.041
20 United States Conor Daly
United States Ed Carpenter Racing 1'46.485 1.587 135.704
21 United Kingdom Max Chilton
United Kingdom Carlin 1'46.609 1.712 135.546
22 France Simon Pagenaud
United States Team Penske 1'46.573 1.676 135.591
23 Canada Dalton Kellett
United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'47.313 2.415 134.657

GROUP 2

Cla Driver Team Time Gap Mph
1 Mexico Patricio O'Ward
Arrow McLaren SP 1'44.897 137.758
2 Spain Alex Palou
Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh 1'44.919 0.022 137.729
3 United States Graham Rahal
United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'45.032 0.135 137.580
4 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist
United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.148 0.251 137.428
5 United Kingdom Jack Harvey
United States Meyer Shank Racing 1'45.509 0.612 136.958
6 United States Santino Ferrucci
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan 1'45.567 0.670 136.883
7 United States Charlie Kimball
United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'45.834 0.937 136.538
8 Netherlands Rinus van Kalmthout
United States Ed Carpenter Racing 1'46.033 1.135 136.282
9 United States Zach Veach
United States Andretti Autosport 1'46.181 1.284 136.091
10 United States Marco Andretti
Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani 1'46.221 1.324 136.041
11 United Kingdom Max Chilton
United Kingdom Carlin 1'46.609 1.712 135.546

GROUP 1

Cla Driver Team Time Gap Mph
1 United States Colton Herta
Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport 1'44.925 137.721
2 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay
United States Andretti Autosport 1'45.153 0.228 137.422
3 New Zealand Scott Dixon
United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.267 0.342 137.273
4 Australia Will Power
United States Team Penske 1'45.299 0.374 137.231
5 United States Alexander Rossi
United States Andretti Autosport 1'45.372 0.447 137.137
6 Japan Takuma Sato
United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'45.432 0.507 137.059
7 United States Josef Newgarden
United States Team Penske 1'45.460 0.535 137.022
8 Sweden Marcus Ericsson
United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'45.785 0.860 136.601
9 United States Oliver Askew
Arrow McLaren SP 1'46.073 1.148 136.230
10 United States Conor Daly
United States Ed Carpenter Racing 1'46.485 1.560 135.704
11 France Simon Pagenaud
United States Team Penske 1'46.573 1.648 135.591
12 Canada Dalton Kellett
United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'47.313 2.388 134.657

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